Leadership from the Biggest Brother

Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their jobs. You can’t do a good job if you don’t have a chance to use your imagination and creativity.

Dick Winters was a leader. He was trained as an infantry officer in the paratroopers. He could jump out of airplanes, survive the trip to the ground and then lead men into battle.

But that meant that he didn’t do everything that was needed to be done. He delegated responsibility to those who were specially trained. Mortar teams fired mortars. Medics took care of the wounded. Radiomen kept the company in contact with Command HQ. Sharpshooters took the difficult shots.

Dick Winters didn’t try to do everything himself. He didn’t believe the old cliché, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Officers who did that in a war zone didn’t last long and neither did the men under their command.